Spanish & Illinois

by Ann Abbott A few weeks ago I had a very nice visit with a representative from  Americas Journalism Training , a group that organizes journalism internships in Buenos Aires, Argentina for college students and recent grads.  It sounds like a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful way to build a resume and a portfolio.   Read the AJT newsletter and check out the work of a recent University of Illinois graduate, Elaine Tannous . Even if you're not planning to have a career in journalism, I still think that an internship of this type is very helpful. All employers want to hire someone who is an effective communicator, self-starter (stories don't always land in your lap; journalists often have to go out and find them), creative and capable of meeting deadlines.  If you can do all of that while living in a different country, that's even more impressive. What do you want from your study abroad experience? To learn some Spanish but still play it safe? Really immerse...

by Allison Kutzki Hola! My name is Allison Kutzki and I am a junior studying to be a high school Spanish teacher. My experiences so far at the University of Illinois have been some of the most enriching of my life. Two years ago at this time, I was completely lost as to what I wanted to do for a living. As I continued to take Spanish classes, I began to realize how passionate I was about the language and the teaching of it. If it was not for the wonderful teachers, professors and experiences that I have had such as tutoring, I may not have found my calling in life. My most current opportunity that I have been given is through Spanish 232 and I am currently working at Leal Elementary School in Urbana. Being that I want to teach high school and have thus far only worked with students of that age, my first grade class at Leal has been an eye opener and given me new perspective on not only teaching but the Latino community near campus as well. I have worked there three times so far, and e...

by Ann Abbott The University of Illinois' annual Campus Charitable Fund Drive is underway. All the charitable organizations in the portfolio are worthy recipients of our giving.  However, I just sent the message below to my colleagues within the Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese to point out the connection between our mission as a department and that of the Refugee Center (officially, the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center).  Any UI employee can contribute to the fund drive, and anyone at all can send a check directly to the Refugee Center at any time.  ( Their address is available on their website .) Dear SIP colleagues, As you consider your choices for the Campus Charitable Fund Drive, I would like to call your attention to the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC), also known as "the Refugee Center."  They are the only Illinois organization of this type outside of Chicago, and they provide myria...

by Ann Abbott I'm very excited about the 2010 Latin American Film Festival put on by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign . I won't be able to see them all because of family duties, but it seems to me as if they are all good. I created a series of activities around the Film Festival's poster , and I think that it went very well with both of my Business Spanish sections today. Feel free to use the activities with your classes, tweaking them to fit your own course. 1. Ask your partner to answer these questions then discuss the answers. [In my class, the average was 4 for both questions.] On a scale of 1-5, how much do you like el cine ? On a scale of 1-5, how much do you like Spanish? 2. [Pass out a copy of the film festival's poster and schedule to each group.] Now look at this poster and discuss the film festival, the individual films and other related topics with your partner. 3. Take out your...

by Ann Abbott I know that many of my students wonder what they will do after graduation. They want to do something meaningful, and they long to continue their international experiences. Lindsey Meyers found a solution that is meaningful, productive and allows her to continue perfecting her Spanish: spending a year working with The Working Boys Center in Quito, Ecuador . " Two Miles High " is the name of Lindsey's blog, and after just two and a half weeks in Ecuador, she has already documented the work and the "feel" of her experience so far. Students, I encourage you to follow Lindsey's blog, see what she learns along her journey, and consider how this might be an opportunity for you.  A year of service is a positive trend among students. It fills the "gap year" between high school and college and/or between undergrad and grad school.  You continue your learning, but you also develop valuable skills (including language proficiency, intercu...

by Katie Dudek Embarking on Another Journey Hola! My name is Katie Dudek, and I am a senior majoring in both Sociology and Spanish.  As I have been introducing myself to my classmates this week, it has really hit me that I am in fact a senior.  I don’t want to sound cliché, but the last three years I have spent here at the University of Illinois have really flown by.  I have enjoyed every minute I have spent here, and feel that I have really taken advantage of all the wonderful opportunities that I have been presented with.  I am very excited to about the newest opportunity that I have been offered.  Through SPAN 232, I have the chance to volunteer at Booker T. Washington Elementary School and help Spanish-speaking students.  As I hope to become certified as a teacher after I graduate, I am thrilled to be spending my Wednesday afternoons there. I cannot wait to be around native Spanish-speakers once again.  This past spring, I spent my semester...

A new group of honors students will blog this semester about their experiences in the "Spanish in the Community," It is always fascinating to me to see how so many students can have similar experiences yet take away very different things because of their previous knowledge and experiences as well as the support the classroom discussions give to their reflective processes.  I hope that you will enjoy reading this semester's cohort of student bloggers and even learn something from them. Ann Abbott by Charlotte Piwowar B efore going abroad, my Spanish left a lot to be desired.  I had taken three years in high school, as well as classes my first three semesters here at Illinois.  As an International Studies major I was required to reach a “profic ient” level, but, feeling like I wasn’t progressing much, I decided to devote my time to other classes required for my major and minor after completing the necessary language coursework.  A full year then went by in the...

by Ann Abbott Our students of Spanish are always interested in international opportunities. They want to build their resume, improve their language skills and feel a part of the culture. When they ask me if I know of anything in Latin America I usually say, "Go. Ask. Make something happen yourself." So I wanted to share the information I received from a student from my "Spanish & Entrepreneurship" course last semester: "I found an organization that I am really excited about! It's called Otra Cosa and I will be volunteering in Huanchaco, Peru for 2.5 months through it." My student found this opportunity through this website that lists free/low-cost volunteer opportunities in Latin America . I don't know any of these programs, so I cannot vouch for their viability. But it's a good place to begin your research.

by Ann Abbott I know that many of my students dream about working in another country and travelling the world.  Bridget Dougherty is a role model for all of them. Bridget was my student in " Spanish in the Community " in 2005, and she did her community service learning work at the Refugee Center ( ECIRMAC ).  I also remember doing a classroom visit to a TA-taught "Business Spanish" course and seeing Bridget very engaged in that class, too. Bridget recently e-mailed me to ask for some information for her applications to an MBA program, and I was delighted to see that she was working for a not-for-profit in Hanoi, Vietnam.  Here is the information she shared with me: "The non-profit is Prosperity Initiative . Check out the website for more information. It is s small organisation that has been around for about 3 years. "I came here in October 2009 working as a consultant for Accenture through Accenture's Development Partnerships which sends...

by Ann Abbott I always look forward to receiving the Entrepreneurship Educator newsletter , but I was doubly pleased with this issue because it features an activity developed by my friend, Tony Mendes.  Tony was the Executive Director of The Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois, and I was one of his the Faculty Fellows.  Tony is now the Director of the Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas . The activity is pasted below.  When I teach my Spanish & Entrepreneurship course again I will ask my students to go through the exercise to find "points of pain" for the Latina/o community members they meet in their community service learning (CSL) work and their community partner organizations. Points of Pain Exercise This first exercise was developed by Tony Mendes, who is the Director of the  Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas . Many entrepreneurial ideas come from...

by Ann Abbott I have five complimentary copies of the latest issue of Foreign Language Annals  sitting on my office shelf. (If you want one, let me know!)  It's always very exciting to see your work published.  Here is the reference: Abbott, Annie & Darcy Lear. "The Connections Goal Area in Spanish Community Service-Learning: Possibilities and Limitations." Foreign Language Annals  43 (2010): 231-45. The issue includes another article pertinent to Spanish community service learning (CSL): Polansky, Susan G., et al. "Tales of Tutors: The Role of Narrative in Language Learning and Service-Learning." Foreign Language Annals  43 (2010): 304-23. It describes an interesting curricular project at Carnegie Mellon University in which students studying any foreign language (including ESL) enrolled in the same service learning course.  I encourage you to read the whole article to see how "narrative" played out in the students' reading, writing...

By: Carolyn (Carolina) Kloecker During a “Lunch & Learn” session, we were able to choose from many different presentations. The one I chose was related to the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. The presenters were MBA students from UCLA, and they mainly talked about the market potential of this group for microfinance and financial services. There are over 1.6 million Hispanic-owned microbusinesses in the U.S. Also, in the past year, only 7% of underserved microentrepreneurs were reached by microenterprise programs. In terms of unmet needs, 20.6 million Latinos are unbanked or underbanked, and 51% of Latinos cite “financial issues” as a reason for not having checking or savings accounts, based on a survey by ACCION USA. The conclusion by the panelists was that more outreach is needed, in order to inform people about their options. Some of these financial service options include credit, business and consumer loans, insurance, and grants. I found this diagram very...

by Ann Abbott The internship has been filled.   Although the Spanish & Illinois Summer Internship Program was cancelled this year due to funding restraints, we have one internship partner who is making it work this summer:  the  Latino Partnership of Champaign County  (LPCC) in collaboration with the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center  (ECIRMAC, also known as The Refugee Center). If you are a UIUC student who has taken at least one of the Spanish & Illinois courses (preferably SPAN 232 or 332, but if you took SPAN 202 with me in the fall of 2009 you can also apply), has a passion for speaking Spanish, wants to get further experience working in the community, is a creative self-starter and can work fairly independently, please apply! The position is part-time (for a total of 265 hours), pays $10 an hour and will last throughout the summer.  You can probably work out the scheduling with the internship supervisor...

by Ann Abbott "Where is the line between 'us' and 'them'? Between 'our community' and 'you people'?" This is the opening line from an article written about the research findings of Prof. Cara Wong, a political scientist at the University of Illinois .  She states that people's ideas about who belongs to their in-group go beyond black-white or Republican-Democrat; it depends on how they identify their community and what groups belong to that community.  (Click on the link to read the article; it provides really good examples, including a comparison of how Baton Rouge and Houston received--and conceived of--New Orleans refugees after Katrina.) I would love to collaborate with Prof. Wong to research how our Spanish community service learning (CSL) students assimilate (or not) the community members they encounter during their CSL work into their own concept of community.  It seems to me that a pre-test and post-test could lead us toward ...

Chicago Microfinance Conference - Part 1 of 2 By: Carolyn (Carolina) Kloecker On Friday, May 7th, I attended the Chicago Microfinance Conference at the University of Chicago. I became interested in microfinance, and especially entrepreneurship, when I began to talk to a loan officer at ACCION Chicago , a Spanish & Illinois community partner. After taking Spanish in the Community, I was able to get an internship with ACCION through Spanish & Illinois. Because of my interest in Microfinance, I joined the Illinois Microfinance Brigades , a new RSO on campus, and we attended the conference together. Many of my former co-workers from ACCION were in attendance at the conference, as well as a number of other representatives from domestic and international microfinance institutions. I will review some notes from a couple sessions that I found extremely interesting and relevant to both entrepreneurship, community relations, and the Spanish-speaking population. The first session ...